1

Background

1.1

To date, the Mass Data Capture Exercise has resulted in Property Details data being input into the Central Database on over 10 million dwellings, 7% of these records have none of the 17 Dwellinghouse Codes entered, 18% have one or more of the following eight codes missing: - Group, Type, Age, Area, Rooms, Bedrooms, Bathrooms and either ‘Number of Floors’ or ‘Floor Level’. A further 4% of records have incompatible codes i.e. Group 01 (house) with a Type FC (flat). This IA gives instruction on how to cleanse or enhance these missing or incompatible fields.

1.2

Spreadsheets called Data_Enhancement_[xxBA name_MMMYYxx].xls. will be produced for all Billing Authorities that have had all data capture completed. Because these files will be too large to be e-mailed or copied onto Location P drives they will be put onto a CD and sent to each Location. GVOs, GMs and CT Team Leaders will be informed when these spreadsheets have been produced and sent. Due to their size these files must only be accessed direct from the CD on a desktop PC drive and must not be saved onto any of the main computer drives.

1.3

The spreadsheets list the properties for which the Property Details need to be enhanced or cleansed. The new/amended details are to be input onto the Central Database. The Validation Matrix sets out the permitted permutations of codes.

1.4

Columns C to H of the spreadsheet contain the Address of the Property. Column I shows the Reason code for inclusion on the list (See Appendix A). Columns J to Y contain the Dwellinghouse Codes that have been input onto the Central Database. Column Z contains the ‘Reason for Coding’, Column AA contains the Effective date of the property details and column AB is the Council Tax Band. Column AC lists any cleared CL13 reports (Change of Address) on that property and column AD lists any cleared Appeals.

1.5

The sheets have been ordered by Street but they can be sorted into any order necessary to best match your hardcopy filing system for the Billing Authority. When sorting the spreadsheets please ensure that all columns are sorted together. The spreadsheet is already set up to print columns C to AD. Clicking the print icon will print all necessary pages. As these files are quite large offices may not want to print all pages at once.

2

Action required

2.1

Once the sheets have been printed, for every property listed the Dwellinghouse details in columns J to Y should be checked against the Survey or Précis Sheets paying attention to the reason code in column I. If any errors or omissions are noted the correct and/or missing details should be entered onto the hardcopy spreadsheet in the relevant field. It may be useful if any staff carrying out this exercise have a copy of the Validation Matrix. (A copy of the Matrix can be found in P:\CEO2\Council Tax).

2.2

Staff undertaking this task are to make judgements about coding. E.g. if the Group code is missing and it is not recorded on hardcopy records, staff are permitted for the code to be determined from the hardcopy records if the records allow this. Also if a property has no details but can be identified as being identical to another with Dwelling House details on the CDB all codes can be deemed to be the same. It would be useful for later quality control purposes if the address of the identical property is recorded on the hardcopy spreadsheet.

2.3

If a house or bungalow type code is corrected to a flat or maisonette type code, or vice versa, then please ensure that any floors or floor level coding is also correct. Remember that the ‘number of floors’ code can only be entered for a bungalow or house and a ‘lowest floor level’ code can only be entered for a flat or maisonette.

2.4

If the correct and/or missing details are unable to be extracted from the Survey or Précis Sheets, assistance from more experienced members of staff who are familiar with the area should be sought, estate files need to be viewed. If codes are entered or amended on advice of a colleague a brief note of this and the initials of the person consulted should be made on the hardcopy spreadsheet i.e. “Group amended on advice of JES” this will aid the QC process.

2.5

Council Tax Settlement Sheets (VO 7464s) for any cleared Appeals should also be consulted. Column AD of the spreadsheet contains the case number of any cleared appeals on that property.

2.6

Column AC of the spreadsheet holds the report number of any ‘CL13’ reports that have been cleared on a property indicating that the address has been changed. These reports should be extracted and the previous address interrogated for any property details. Again it may be useful for QC purposes if the previous address is recorded on the hardcopy spreadsheet.

2.7

The digital mapping application should also be utilised to identify any identical properties. Again it would be useful for later quality control purposes if the address of the identical property is recorded on the hardcopy spreadsheet.

2.8

Under no circumstances should the Effective Date or the ‘Reason for Coding’ fields on the hardcopy spreadsheets be amended.

2.9

Once the above exercise has been completed on all properties the amended and/or new codes can be Quality Controlled.

3

Quality Control of New/Amended data

3.1

Quality Control for this exercise follows the same process as that for the Mass Data Capture exercise.

3.2

Any extra data added or amended on the first 50 addresses by a staff member must be 100% quality controlled. The data extracted needs to be checked against all the source documents. Any codes added or amended on a colleague’s advice should be checked with the person giving the advice.

3.3

Any errors or omissions need to be recorded by the Quality Controller on the spreadsheets.

3.4

If having quality controlled the data extracted on the first 50 addresses, more than 5% of addresses have data errors, or omissions where data was available, the Quality Controller will need to check 100% of the following set of 50 extracted by that staff member.

3.5

100% quality control needs to continue until the staff member achieves a level where 5% or less of 50 addresses have errors. When this level is achieved a 2% sample of each batch allocated thereafter needs to be checked. The 2% of addresses to be checked should be randomly selected and not properties in the same street.

3.6

If at any time errors or omissions are found in the 2% sample then the staff member should revert to 100% quality control and only revert to 2% sampling when 5% or less of the addresses have errors.

3.7

Quality controlled items should be marked on the hardcopy spreadsheet by endorsing `EQC' (Extracted QC) against the checked address and initialled by the Quality Controller with attention drawn to the data extractor of any errors and/or omissions.

3.8

Once the QC on extraction has been completed the data can now be entered onto the Central Database.

4

Inputting Data

4.1

Care should be taken when inputting data in the bulk inputting facility of the Property Details Application that the effective date and ‘Reason for coding’ of the property on the screen is identical to the ones on the spreadsheet. This is vital as the latest record may have a more complete set of details, which must not be amended.

4.2

If entering details via the Individual Property Details screen the effective date of the property details on the spreadsheet must be input as the query date.

4.3

Under no circumstances should the Effective Date or the ‘Reason for Coding’ fields be amended on the Central Database.

4.4

Once inputting has been completed it can be Quality Controlled.

5

Quality Control of Inputting

5.1

The data input on the first 50 addresses dealt with by a staff member must be 100% quality controlled. Data input on to the Central Database needs to be checked against the data on the printed spreadsheets.

5.2

If having quality controlled the data input on the first 50 addresses, more than 5% of addresses have input errors, or omissions where data was available, the Quality Controller will need to check 100% of the following set of 50 input by that staff member.

5.3

100% quality control needs to continue until the staff member achieves a level where 5% or less of 50 addresses have errors. When this level is achieved a 2% sample of each batch allocated thereafter needs to be checked. The 2% of addresses to be checked should be randomly selected.

5.4

If at any time errors or omissions are found in the 2% sample then the staff member should revert to 100% quality control and only revert to 2% sampling when 5% or less of the addresses have errors.

5.5

Quality controlled items should be marked on the hardcopy spreadsheet by endorsing `IQC' (Input QC) against the checked address and initialled by the Quality Controller with attention drawn to the data inputter of any errors and/or omissions.

6

Action on Completion

6.1

Once all work has been completed on all properties on the spreadsheet an e-mail should be sent to informing her that all work has been completed.

Further spreadsheets will be produced periodically to ensure that any further Property Details entered in that Billing Authority are correct. GMs will be informed when any further spreadsheets are produced and sent. The printed spreadsheets should be retained as any properties that still have data missing may need to be externally inspected, this will be the subject of a separate IA.

7

Activity Monitoring  

7.1

All time spent on this exercise should be recorded in the Council Tax Revaluation Activity Monitoring Return under ‘Data Enhancement’.

The following is attached as a Word Document: APPENDIX A – Explanation of Query Codes

May 2004